Let’s get Freud out of the way
and all those others while we’re busy
sweeping up the Autumn Leaves
from the Great American Song Book
They voted not with issues
from their childhood but their fingers
The original tune was French
Les Feuilles Mortes by Joseph Kosma
words by Jacques Prevert
translated in English
with fewer verses by Johnny Mercer
so many versions they’d make you dizzy
just thinking. The first I heard
was Nat King Cole’s, the most recent
an instrumental by the Keith Jarrett trio
Keith on piano
Gary Peacock on bass
Jack DeJohnette, drums
Terry Riley
another favourite of mine
composed a contrafact of the song
using the same principle
(of) small repetitive cells
combining melody and rhythm
I only like to read Lacan because
I don’t quite understand him
.
Steven Taylor
.